We’re not talking about saving your own energy by being a couch potato, we’re talking about watching a television that uses less energy, an Energy Star rated television.

Energy Star was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.

http://www.enctoday.com/news/energy_52563_kfpress__article.html/star_tvs.html

Here is the link to the Energy Star Products page where you can research all types of products and find the ones which are Energy Star rated.  This falls in the area of personal responsibility, choosing products that use less energy.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=TV

Here is the list of Energy Star Televisions (EXCEL Spreadsheet)

http://downloads.energystar.gov/bi/qplist/tv_prod_list.xls

Estimates are that America would reduce our energy consumption by 30% if we switched to more energy efficient equipment and appliances.    Energy Star rated appliances (even Televisions) are a great step on the road to endependence, energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels.

It isn’t really a battle as in good versus evil.  It is a battle to define the terms and see where the responsibilities lie.

Let’s establish some working definitions:

Energy efficiency is what it is.

Energy conservation is what we do.

If the device we plug into the wall uses less energy than the device it replaces or it uses less energy than similar devices we could have purchased, that device is energy efficient.

If we decide to unplug our electrical appliances when we aren’t using them or turn down our thermostats and put on a sweater or put our computer on standby, we are conserving energy.

Here are a few conservation videos:

Some information about easy energy saving measures outside the house and in the basement

http://endependence.info/research/videos-c-6-v-72.html

Some information about easy ways everyone can save energy inside the home

http://endependence.info/research/videos-c-6-v-15.html

http://endependence.info/research/videos-c-6-v-44.html

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